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Survey raises questions for El Paso clinic

Government can't create good policy when it's working with bad data. That's never been more evident than the ongoing crisis with the Department of Veterans Affairs.

It's been well-established for weeks that the VA health facility in Phoenix was cooking the books to make it look like veterans were getting quick access to health care. That erupted into a national scandal and led to the resignation of VA Secretary Eric Shinseki.

Now, research released by Rep. Beto O'Rourke on Wednesday indicates serious access problems to El Paso's VA health center, despite repeated reassurances from center leadership that veterans were seen quickly when requesting appointments.

O'Rourke's office conducted a survey of veterans who have accessed, or attempted to access, health care at El Paso's VA clinic. That clinic treats tens of thousands of veterans in southern New Mexico and West Texas.

The most disturbing finding in the survey is that more than a third of the veterans who requested appointments for mental health service were unable to see a mental health provider. And those who were able to get access waited on average 71 days to see a provider.

Those findings contradict reports provided to O'Rourke from the El Paso VA each month since March 2013, which showed that between 85 percent and 100 percent of veterans seeking mental health appointments saw a provider within 14 days of requesting an appointment.

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"The results substantiate the individual anecdotes I have long heard from El Pasoans and directly contradict the assurances of acceptable access and quality from the VA in Washington, D.C., and the (Veterans Health Administration) in El Paso," O'Rourke said in a news release announcing the findings. "They raise many additional questions that must be quickly and diligently resolved. They also underscore the need for a world class VA medical facility in El Paso with increased provider capacity and greater transparency and accountability."

The El Paso Democrat said the El Paso situation was another case of the VA supplying "fake numbers" to Congress and the public.

O'Rourke is introducing legislation that would require a similar comprehensive survey of all veterans health centers in the country to check on the VA's data reporting.

That is a good step, and more will be needed as well. Congress will need to do a better oversight job with VA.

Getting accurate data is crucial in reforming the VA.

For example, the VA instituted a requirement that veterans seeking an initial primary health care appointment be seen within 14 days. That is a laudable goal, but it is clear that the VA lacked the resources in many parts of the country — including El Paso — to make that happen.

So what happened in Phoenix likely happened elsewhere — rather than raising a flag about resource issues that Congress was unlikely to address, administrators phonied up data to make it look like vets were getting access to care.

The focus must be on providing all veterans access to quality health care. Congress and other policy makers will need reliable data to make that happen. O'Rourke has provided a good example for getting better data.

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